THE THEORY OF CONSTRUCTIVISM AND ITS SOCIAL RELEVANCE
Lev Vygotsky is a Russian Psychologist, a Linguistic; he holds a law degree in Moscow University and a prolific author of various books of theory including Mind and Society, Thought and Language (1934), Psychology of Art (1925) among others. He died in 1934 at the age of 37 because of tuberculosis. He is the one who developed one of the most critically recognized theories of Constructivism where according to Vygotsky it is the philosophy of learning that through our experiences, people construct their own process of learning that is gained to the society and the world we live.
Constructivism in his concept is that people continue to learn if they continue to participate and interact in the activities of the society and everything that you hear, see and feel will be equated to your mind. Speech is a vital importance of learning and writing and communication is its basic tool and the society should collaborate and help each other to form and share their own part. His idea deals with sharing objectives and facts as a basic learning tool especially among children and it can be best described in the following theories of constructivism. Constructivism has been developed because during their time sharing and cooperation is highly encourage and Vygotsky’s theory is the manifestation that is highly influenced in this condition.
Cultural mediation and internalization – This theory is an adopted behavior of a child to the society particularly adults and parents should be the one to share their knowledge that what they have also belongs to the society and what the society have they also belong through this premise a child came to learn and receive the blessings of the society through which their mental and personality perception is derived.
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) – That adult should the sources of knowledge for children as long as a person have something to share they can be considered an adult that’s why children can be an adult if they can contribute to knowledge. No matter what they can share if they share in wholeheartedly then is should be the beginning of more knowledge.
Thought and Language as a tool – According to Vygotsky that language is the basic tools how children can express their ideas and it is also through language of how they can be developed. During their infancy they can learn symbols and later on they begin to utter until they are conscious about languages that they have gained. Their inner thoughts can be release “thinking out loud’ through their language.
Zone of Proximity (ZPT) – He believes that the talent and skills of a child should not be limited it can be highly developed if given an importance in the society or if shared by people around them especially their parents for example if a child knows how to draw but he doesn’t know how to color then he should be taught to use the color to improve his skills. The proper sharing of adult is therefore important. Over time if children are taught more and more and then they will improve even more.
Psychology of Play – that child is important and playful and this is their world, child can develop an abstract meaning that separates their perception of the world and only the imagination of the child can interpret their existence. He claimed that a child may be dependent during their infancy that if left alone they would cry and be angry, but if given a toy they would play. Children can learn to develop their own world through playing. They can pretend and make believe and later on realized things as a normal being when they grow the reliance on the material thing such as toys diminishes and loses its value but being a child let them play.
He also stressed that learning is searching for meaning and meaning requires understanding and any individual can create their own tools of learning. This is what is does in his childhood to create learning tools he use to write his own ideas in papers that later on becomes a book. The society and the process or learning should always be in relation and it should not separate so that people and children cha benefit from their experiences and their experiences as their guide. Vygotsky’s literary approach almost always leads to humanitarian endeavor.
In relevance of Vygotsky’s theory to the society in these present times he has promoted goodwill and valuable changes of character to humanity, the impact of his theory and practices should be highly promoted and exercised. Probably it should be included in the curriculum of most schools and university in our present society so that the development of sharing and cooperation can be manifested in our life too, and it should start in our children so that they can pass on the goodwill of this theory in the next generation to come.
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